Our new neighborhoods team is building connections. How you can help
Greg Borowski Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 11-26-2025
When Kynala Phillips started as leader of a new team focused on three city neighborhoods, we were struck by an idea she had: Everyone on the team should spend time, on a regular basis, volunteering in the community.
It was a perfect match for our new Neighborhood Dispatch team, a pilot project funded through grant support that uses a listen-first model to engage with residents and build connections, then tells stories with an eye toward celebrating success and solving problems.
Our team, led by Phillips, has been working quietly on this since mid-summer, focusing on three primary neighborhoods: Harambee, Metcalfe Park and the Layton Boulevard West area, which includes Silver City, Burnham Park and Layton Park.
The volunteer hours (more than 130 so far) underscore our commitment to these neighborhoods, but also create a chance for our journalists to better understand the places, people and issues they cover – and to make a tangible difference as they do.
Frankly, we have not done a good job over the years in these – and other – neighborhoods of presenting the richness of what is happening there along with the challenges they face.
There is much more to the effort, of course, including internships and newsletters and outreach and, importantly, continuing to tell stories that would otherwise go unheard.
The Neighborhood Dispatch includes an unprecedented mix of support from Bader Philanthropies, the Zilber Family Foundation, the Journal Foundation, the Northwestern Mutual Foundation, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and individual contributions to our Community-Funded Journalism Project in partnership with the Local Media Foundation.
That support allowed us to launch this important team, which we are working to sustain far into the future. With Giving Tuesday and the end of the year approaching, there is more information below on how you can help through tax-deductible contributions.
Who is on your Neighborhood Dispatch team?
The editor of the team is Kynala Phillips, a Madison native who came to us from Kansas City, where she worked for public television and on a Kansas City Star desk focused on connecting with readers around the information they need. (Email: KJPhillips@usatodayco.com)
Everett Eaton covers the Harambee neighborhood, and has written about concerns over semi-truck traffic and unsafe senior housing, as well as the Bronzeville Center for the Arts and historic recognition of the Chinese Laundry Era. (Email: EJEaton@usatodayco.com)
In the Layton Boulevard West neighborhood, reporter Alyssa Salcedo has done pieces on food insecurity, construction concerns on National Avenue, the Dia de los Muertos Festival and led a Hispanic Heritage month series on local entrepreneurs. (ASalcedo@usatodayco.com)
In Metcalfe Park, April Quevedo has focused on food access after a grocery store closure, the expansion of mental health care and a piece about residents forming an impromptu trauma team to save a motorcyclist’s life after an accident. (Email: AQuevedo@usatodayco.com)
Meanwhile, photojournalist Angelica Edwards works across the neighborhoods, telling multimedia stories – from photo galleries on the new MLK Drive library and new housing complexes to videos about a vigil marking a tragic death and high school volunteers cleaning forgotten grave sites. (Email: AEdwards@usatodayco.com)
You can find all of their stories at jsonline.com/news/neighborhoods.
What should we watch for from the team?
The team is working on new ways to connect with residents, from newsletters to more stories written in Spanish to a series of neighborhood listening tours.
A central aim of the team is to do a better job of listening. We’ve made connections with nearly 300 people so far, from residents to business owners and organizers.
When we do, when we listen with a humble heart and an open mind, voices are elevated, concerns get addressed and community good comes out of the work.
We have seen it already.
How can I support this effort?
We are working to build a broad and sustained coalition of support around our neighborhoods team. Those interested in learning more about how they can help should contact Erin Richards, our director of development, at erichards@gannett.com.
The project is administered by Local Media Foundation, tax ID #36‐4427750, a Section 501(c)(3) charitable trust affiliated with Local Media Association.
In recent months, I have written about the many partnerships we have built, our Community-Funded Journalism project, and the guidelines we follow to assure we remain independent and put our readers and the community first.
When I wrote about an expansion of our education team and how we have sustained our coverage of the Great Lakes and the environment, I ended the same way I will now: We need you. We appreciate you.
We thank you.